the scrolls of thanatos
by dudemon223
Summary: in the times of the sigilian empire
1. Chapter 1

The scrolls of thanatos

Ch. 1

Hunted

I heard tale, back when I was but a young swamp spawn, of a great evil that dwelled in the darkness within the bowls of our world. These creatures were never given shape or name and these tales and the elders would cringe while the shaman's burnt purifying inscense at the mention of them. They were described as the darkness itself and were said to be a ravenous horrid race.

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The soft grass crunches under my feet, a small worry for me tonight as I vault through the tall grass. The cold night air brushes past my face forcing me to shut the transparent eyelids that were meant for the waters of my swamp. The light of the full moon glints of my scales turning the turquoise patterns grey. I pull my cloak tighter around myself as the thumps of my pursuers grow closer. I've never seen them, never heard their name but I know their evil, know the name of their race is the foulest of all tongues, just as a hatchling knows its name. behind me the great foul giants goad their cyclopse retainers after me, slaves to their masters' blood lust. Suddenly one of the brutes grabs me by my thigh, I kick at him with my hill, I am young and my barbs are yet small but the poisoned quill sends the brute reeling with a howl. I crawl forward on all fours like one of my lower kin. I look behind me once more, the full moon lends no light to the tall grass but my pursuers glow with their own infernal red light just as the glass shows blue to the pits in my cheek. I scurry forward before I feel a thump on my head and my world goes black.

i awake. It is no brighter than before but I can see clearer for there is no grass around me, by head is filled with an unbearable ringing but I am to frightened to move. The sounds around me slowly resolve themselves into foot falls and the steady trickle of a rives. I look around to see that my head rests on a sandy, sparsely vegetated river bank and that a bloody white stone rests near my head, an explanation for the ringing headache. Through the ground and my jaw I can hear the steps of the hunting brutes, at least 6 of the one eyed brutes, and something larger. Around me the cyclopse servants stalk around the grass, most at least 8 feet tall some 12, most clad in leather armor, some studded with bronze pegs, all carrying gnarled battle axes and dented war hammers. Then I froze, I felt the foot steps of some great behemoth. A foot landed scarcely 2 feet away from my face. I looked up to see a 14 ft. giant Emaciated and boney with huge yellow teeth and white soulless eyes that glowed in the moon light. His body was as black as dried pitch and he stank of mort flesh(zombie meat) on a hot day. But more than that, as he stood there I noticed that the grasses suddenly smelt of the warm muggy decay of grass and the cool smell of the river was replaced by the stench of old blood and I myself smelt of rotting flesh and split bones. The beast wore a huge gleaming chest plate and carried a sword that was far too elegant for the horrid creature. I realized later that the beasts skin was thin almost transparent and I could see his muscles flexing and something else. Inside his gut I could see swirling bluish green vapors with humanoid faces twisted into agonizing faces. He spoke something in a snarl, I realized with a chill that he spoke infernal. I know nothing of infernal except that every word of the language is a blasphemy of the highest order and it is outlawed in all but the most depraived hovels. I shivered in fright and only the knowledge that the stench would be my end kept me from soiling myself. Then 8 small bald, grey humanoids with similar eyes walked out of the tall grass to stand beside the giant. One met my eyes and looked straight at me with black pupiless eyes, and said nothing. The giant reached down and grabbed one of the creatures in its long boney hands and, without a flinch from any creature including the one in its hand, bit it down to the waist. I watched in horror as the fiend devoured the poor slave and I swear to you by the warmth of my nest that I saw one more greenish form slither down the abominations throat t dragging a twisted face with it. Then without another thought the creature roared, wilting the plants around me, and the bands charged off

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I don't know how long I stood bent over the river, puking up hard won slaughter fish back into the river. But when I stopped I took stock of my where abouts. I looked around and realized that I'd fallen down a hill to a shallow river, which I found a small comfort after my run in with the necrotic abomination. I also saw that what I'd first taken as a stone was actually a human skull thrown by one of the cyclopse. I walked several feet down the river away from the brown patch of dead grass before sitting down and taking several deep breaths. I looked down at my hands and realized why the creatures hadn't found me, in my terror my skin had changed to match the ground and the sparse grass and in the moon light the one eyed cretins had passed over me. I sat up and tried to catch my breath, it wasn't for several minutes that I recognized the sound of footfalls. I tensed not ready to face more of the cretins, but before I could hide the strangers came upon me. It took me a moment to recognize the people as men, mammals all smell alike and honestly I only differentiate between those I can eat and those I can't, out of preference I usually spare humans. These men wore thick iron plates over their bodies with round metallic shields in one hand and long swords in the other, one bore a blonde horse main running the length of his helm. "how er you" one human drawled. I got to my feet and replied "I am arclet a simple fisher" I replied as best I could. One human approached me and pointed a sword at my throat. "don't give us that hogwash, you were with the bandits weren't ye" he barked at me. Another followed him with "wait I know what you are, your a chazrack" he said as dumbly as I expected "I am" I replied. "you're coming with us" the captain said before slapping shackles onto my wrists. "what why" I said panicked. "don't play dumb" another said "you and those fomorian bandits have been slaughtering towns for weeks, I bet you were helping them scope out towns" he growled. I was about to protest when the captain cut me off. "we're taking you into custody for questioning" he said. At that I was hoisted onto a horse and we road off towards the imperial city.


	2. jail break

The scrolls of thanatos

Ch.2

Jail break

The cell was cold and creaky, green slime seeped through the cracks in the stone walls and I was tormented by the sound of a gurgling river tantalizingly close outside the windowless cell. I awoke ate the sparse breakfast they served us and preceded to wait for my cell for my neighbors to awake. From the cell across drifted the sweet voice of maprice, a red eyed raven haired dark elf. "good morning lizard boy" she chimed evilly "it must be hard for you to be so close to the river, to know you'll never swim again" she said, and so went the torment until the other zealot woke. The clear voice of Minerva, the golden haired blue eyed high elf sounded from down the hall. At some point the 2 began their banter, apparently the 2 were clerics of opposing gods. The banter inevitably woke my neighbor, beetle the Nordic bard. The blocky featured creature would stir and groan before looking up to speak to me "bitches sure like to snap at each other" he says with a smirk "at least when dudes fight it's over something" he says before the 2 squabbling girls glare at him and I'm suddenly afraid of elven females. Further down the cell I hear a quite growl and I know my cell mate further down, shakhara the kahjit, has awoken, I can see the glow of her feline eyes from where I sit in my cell. And further on my side I hear a grunt telling me jackyl the fighter has woken up. I know not why any of these people are in jail, only that I am innocent. The guard, a bladeling summoned from the plain of the battlesworn by some powerful mage, walks down into our hold and wordlessly delivers our lunch. The creatures steel spikes poke through the joints of his metal armor. I eat. The sack cloth scrapes on my skin, water drips, this was my life for 2 long months until our peace was disturbed. The man walked into our collective hold by the same path the guards came, but he was completely cloaked. He stepped up to my cell and caught my attention immediately. I looked into his hood at his face and he spoke in very accented imperial "well aren't you a pretty lizard" he said and cackled a little, his teeth were sparse and yellow, no that I don't find most human teeth rather ugly, and 1 eye gauged out. I don't reply, why bother with the little old man. The priest grinned "no answer eh, I don't blame you, I'd be rather depressed as well if I was forced to reside in this place". I looked up at the man and saw the slightly twisted intelligence behind his one eye and suddenly realized that this man was a priest of vecna, maybe even a cleric. Now I am no fool, I know that servants of the god of secrets are not to be trusted, but if you were in my position you'd probably be open to questionable aide as well. I looked at the priest, waiting for him to get to the point. He winked, slipped a key through my bars, and walked off. As you can imagine after these grueling months of imprisonement my companions were rather lethargic and no one noticed me fumbling with the iron key until beetle looked through the small stone window. "'ey" he shouted before covering his mouth "you've got a key there mate" he says looking at the iron device with round hungry eyes as I slipped it around with my tail and into the lock "be a dear and bust a bard outa 'ere eh, the ladies'll be missin my sweet lips" he said waggling his brows to make sure I knew he meant more than his songs. I rolled my eyes as the rest of the block perked up. There was a general murmur through my jail mates "what's going on" "lizard boy's gotta key" "hey lizard man get me out" as the pleading continued I started to question who I should take, honestly I'd decided to take beetle, he was annoying and extremely but he was a good story teller and a fair singer, but as I listened the decision slowly made itself for me. "hey gecko, you're gonna need a little muscle to get outa here" says jackyl crossing his arms. "hey all the muscle in the world won't do you anygood if you have nowhere to go, come on kid I'll get you down to deepscorn" says maprice still cocky. "deepscorn is a hell hole, there's not a decent city in the world that won't house a disciple of meloheim and their companions" says Minerva with a steady voice. "no amount of housing will do any good if you get lost in the woods" says shakhara as I unlock beetle's cell. I turn and ponder and decide with a start to release them all. As I unlock the cells footsteps draw closer, I remember the stories of flesh and blood mortals fighting bladelings and I quickly unlock shakhara who pounces on the walls and starts knocking on stones. Suddenly the foot steps upstairs become a shuffling commotion and jackyl takes a position at the door holding a shank carved from a wooden chair leg. Suddenly the wall shakhara was on opened letting in a blast of cold air. We all staired at shakhara. "what you don't think I came in here through the front door" she said and walked down through the opening. We all followed as the commotion became shouts and clangs.

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We followed the long winding halls that were the castles secret passages, I think. The whole time I could feel, we were all certain that the soldiers would be upon us any moment. But they never came down on us. We ran for what seemed like ages until we reached a small stone room filled with the clatter of battle. I looked down into the room and spotted 2 imperial guards. The first was a lady, rather thick by womanly standards but not large, she had hair the color of spun gold, her armor contoured to an hourglass form. The other guard was a hulking man with red hair, he hada bow and a quiver of what looked to be 40 arrows. Both wielded gleaming iron long swords and wore steel armor that reflected the fire light. They fought with skill against 2 dark skinned redguard soldiers. The 2 arkanian soldiers wore studded leather armor over red martial artists robes and wielding iron shortswords. The 2 imperial guards were much better equipped but the redguards were master martial artists and their skill and strength held the battle evenly. I listened to the clang and clash of swords until jackyl said "what're you nits waiting for there's a fight to get into" And jumped towards the fight. It was at that moment a redguard mage stepped around the corner, he called out some ancient words and a ball of fire shot towards the woman, it caught her in the shoulder twisting her around, while she was turned the soldier in front of he rbrought his sword down on her head with a clang. At that moment jackyl leapt forward and with a loud crack punched the redguard squarely in the face. He fell to the stones with a loud thud, jackyl cocked his leg back and kicked him in the gut picking him up and knocking him against the rock pillar. To the left of that the male guard fought against the other redguard, unfazed by the death of his comrade. As he pulled back for a powerful strike shakhara leapt over him and tackled the soldier to the ground, I heard a scream and knew she'd sank her teeth into his neck. At that moment the crimson mage raised his hand to caste a spell at shakhara, but maprice stepped forward and shouted words in an ancient language and a green orb of light shot from her hand. The orb connected with the mage and a green light flared from his chest as he was picked up and thrown through the air, he slammed into the wall with enough force to knock loose dust then fell to the floor. Beetle stepped forward and jerked a lit torch off the stone pillar in the middle of the room and started pounding the remaining redguard in the face with the lit end while jackyl kickied him in the gut. While jackyl and beetle steadily beat the life out of the poor warrior shakhara walked over to the fallen mage as he struggled to pick himself up with a pathetic moan and with cold effeciencey she reached down and snapped his neck. I watched all this in a mix of horror and excitement. However I was surprised to see everyone else simply stare at their kills after the battle until beetle walked up to the palace guardsman "hail, guardsman, what is your name" he said in bombastic tone. "I am eglef, what is your name stranger" he said in the same accent as beetle, I observed as I dutifully removed the girls helmet and brushed back her blood matted hair. "oh, your Nordic" beetle said as the guard removed his helm revealing a braided brunette beard and a painted blockish face. I continued to strip the girl of her gear, I even took the silk tie holding her chest. When I removed it I heard eglaf growl "oi what are you doin lizard" he snarled at me. I continued with what I was doing piling her iron armor and shield onto one pile and setting her silver longsword aside while I slipped her dagger onto my belt. "this one is stripping its armor and gear, the dead have no honor if we also die for it" I said as I covered her face with a sheat of paper I saved from that days meal and set 2 stones on her eyes. The other guard grunted and I felt beetle would join him in snapping at me when shakhara spoke up "argonian is right, the girl has died in vein if we to die for lack of armor" she said qand started pulling off the mages equipment. Jackyl snatched the torch away from a still protesting beetle and relit it before stalking over to me and started snatching up the iron legionarie armor. I didn't protest, jackyl was the strongest of us and could make the most use of strong weaponarie. Eglaf grunted at us and pulled out a lantern lighting it "I suppose you're right, were do you hail from strangers you don't look to be travelers." He said as maprice walked over to shakhara and grabbed up the mages robes and staff. Shakhara growled but let her take it "we're not we're prisoners, why are their redguards in the sewers" beetle said obviously trying to divert the subject from their illegal status. I started stripping off the redguards equipment, jerking off the studded leather and sniffing, it was definitely hardened netch. I tossed that armor and shield and the soldiers whole gear to shakhara as jackyl handed the female soldiers clothing to Minerva who stripped the other redguards armor and weapons before walking to a corner to change in imagined dignity. "I suppose you wouldn't have heard, the redguards and some mercenaries attacked the imperial city, they've infiltrated the walls and we think they're after the emperor" eglaff said as jackyl handed the torch to beetle again. We tossed the last redguards clothing to beetle as shakhara pulled a torch from the other wall and walked over to the pillar to mount it at eglaf's station. Beetle Minerva and jackyl gawked "what the emperor" hackly snarled. We finally got resituated and eglaf clued us all in "yes, we don't know why but they're trying to kill him for some reason.". I've never been an emotional lizard but even I felt disturbed by this development, septim was a good man and the fact that the cur's were after him filled me with despair. I lit the lantern the woman had carried and held it up. Eglaf nodded as a crash was heard behind us. He turned to beatle and said "you, run my brother you must get out of here, and tell people of me, tell them of the brave eglaf who stood against the crimson tide" he said as eglaf turned "wait" he said and handed shakhara the steel capped bow and quiver "I have no use of these sticks, my fate will be decided by metal" he said. "kahjiit aprecieates your kindness eglaf, may your hunt be blessed and your claws find blood" shakhara said in her exotic accent. Beetle looked around at the armored comapions and balked "oi, don't I get a little armor" he snapped. Instead of an answer, shakhara tossed him the mage's dagger which he took grudgingly. Shakhara walked over to me and took the girls breast tie and tied it around her face like a veil before handing the leather helm of the one warrior to beetle. I striped off my sackcloth shirt and pulled out the dagger and headed down the halls.

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The cut of what we got from that battle was considerable. The female guard had carried full imperial iron armor and a round buckler shield made of fine mahogany and capped with iron. That along with her iron longsword went to jackyl. The redguards had come wearing studded netch leather. Perhaps you've never seen a netch, great 6 legged beasts that dwell along the coast. I've seen one of our best soldiers jab a spear into the creature only to have its hide deflect it, only the hides of shyrg, dragons, and my own people(our sales are not so hard but will defend you against poisons and diseases). Hence the hardened netch leather studded with the rounded bronze pegs was an excellent find. That and their iron short swords were given to shakhara and Minerva, their shields were oak bucklers covered in the same netch leather. Shakhara gave the boiled helm and shoes to beetle(us beast races have no use for human foot wear and cannot wear their full helmets). Minerva who was a cleric gave beetle one warriors shield and dagger to him as well, she claimed she could cast magic easier with one hand free. Both shakhara and beetle had dawned the soldiers' robes, though shakhara had left hers open in the front to accommodate her chests which were only covered by the armor. The studded curais hugged shakhara and minerva's torso's, the pauldrons wrapped around their upper arms with two hard leather plates on each shoulder, one jutting out on top of the shoulder and the other resting down against the upper arm. The armor on their thighs was unstudded and had thick bands wrappins around it. The leather boots on Minerva were jointed for easy movement and her helm was a cap with leather drooping down over her hair. "we have to go back and help the defenders" Minerva said, a worried expression marring her pale fair face "we can't abandon more people to die" she said. Shakhara's redsilk veil ruffled over her brown and white speckled face as she spoke and her brown tail shifted back and forth in annoyance "shakhara disagrees, no point for shakhara or others to die in futility" she said. "as much as I hate to agree with the high elf, we should go back and kill as many of the bastards as possible." Maprice said, the red mystic's robes contouring to her body, her raven hair spilling out of the hood. "no the kahjiit is right, we don't know how large the enemies are, we're better off to get out of here and alert as many people as we can" beetle said, surprisingly articulate for a nord, his hay colored hair spilled out of his leather helm, tied into brads by ties he'd apparently gotten from eglaf, holding the shield in one hand and the torch in the other. I looked down into a pool of water and looked at myself. I had turquoise scales all around my face, with green borders over my eyes and stretching down to my jaws. There was a bright red v that stretched down and up from one eye to another, marking my mating availability. I had 3 long curving spines coming up from my head and neck. As the arguing grew louder I decided to chime in "this one thinks we keep going through the tunnels" I said as everyone quieted and looked at me. "tunnels are escape passages yes, passages lead to sewers, sewers lead to river, chanaka is in the river" I say. Jackyl turned to me, squeezed into the polished iron mail, the pauldrons were barely strapped onto his muscles, his fore arms stuffed into the gauntlets. The molded curais bulged out at the front where the woman's breasts had been and exposed 2 rows of his 8 pack which I noticed Minerva glancing at. "I agree with arclet" he said "we fight our way to the river and then to the ruins of chanaka" he said. Chanaka was an ancient city built on a large island of the same name in the middle of the mighty salamus. It was once the capital of the ancient civilization that would eventually become the empire. It was abandoned and became a source of great magic. I looked up and shakhara stared at me "shakhara agrees with arclet, we must cross the fould water to get to safety" she said. It is important to kow that if a kahjiit refers to herself by name rather than race it is a sign of trust and if she refers to you by name instead of race it's a sign of friendship. Eventually the entire group consented and we started down the hall.

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